Is Grammarly Premium Worth the Money?

Grammarly is quite simply an awesome program. Automated spelling and grammar correction that Microsoft Office's built-in proofer application doesn't catch is a no-brainer for me. I've been a happy user for about 5 years now. About 18 months ago, I figured it was time to upgrade from the free version and give Grammarly Premium a try. In today's post, I'll share my thoughts about whether or not Grammarly Premium is worth the money...

Grammarly Integration Options

Grammarly really has things figured out when it comes to their program integration options. They offer apps, add-ins, and extensions for the Google Chrome browser, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Outlook tools where I do pretty much all of my typing. These integrations, available for both free and Premium/paid versions of Grammarly, can be quickly and easily done without needing to be a "computer guru."

Once you have signed up for a Grammarly account online (also free), each Grammarly app logs in / interfaces with your online account to maintain your personal dictionary. This means that you can add personal words to your online dictionary so that the software no longer flags these words as errors. This is important for my line of work because we use of abbreviations, words, and acronyms that aren't necessarily in regular dictionaries but are widely accepted in the scientific field. 

Grammarly Premium Cost

As of the time of this writing on 11Apr2020, Grammarly Premium costs $140 per year. Paying annually is the cheapest option to get Grammarly Premium, as the program will cost more if you opt for monthly or quarterly billing. When I decided to give Grammarly Premium a try ~ 18 months ago, I paid about this same price. 

Grammarly Premium Claimed Benefits

Below is a screen-shot from the Grammarly basic/free (left column) and Premium (right column) feature table. As can be seen, grammar, spelling, punctuation, conciseness, and tone are the only features included with the free version. Premium is required to get the added consistency, readability, engagement, and delivery options. 

So, essentially, Grammarly Premium being worth the cost comes down to whether these additional features are value-added for your use.

My Verdict - Grammarly Premium Not Worth the Cost

After using Grammarly Premium for the 1 year time period purchased, I ultimately decided that it was not worth the added cost for my writing style and writing needs. As such, I did not renew my paid subscription but continue happily using the free version.

The bulk of my writing is technical in nature. At my day job, I write scientific/technical reports, emails, notebook entries, protocols, and experimental plans. With my blog, I write about technical ins and outs of personal finance. The purpose of my required writing style is to communicate complex issues, topics, and results in as simple of a language and grammatical style as possible. The ideas behind the words can be difficult, but the words themselves should not be. Using "fancy" words can often be considered odd. Furthermore, it's accepted, and even encouraged, to depersonalize by writing in a passive voice style. 

Overall, Grammarly Premium was not required for my writing needs. This is because the Premium version wasn't catching any additional ERRORS that the free version already was. Premium provided SUGGESTIONS to improve writing style and voice. The types of suggestions it came up with reminded me of "errors" that would be flagged by an English teacher's review of a 6th grade writing project; topics I had to learn my early school years but then didn't need to apply them again in college or my career. For example, I had Premium review a 50 page downstream process development report I was doing at work, and it flagged something like 500 instances of passive voice. I basically had to simply turn of Premium since it wasn't appropriate to correct those.     

***Photo courtesy of https://pixabay.com/photos/grammar-abc-dictionary-words-390029/